12/10/10

This is the sixth post in my "Thoughts on Music" series which feature quotes containing interesting thoughts on music that someone has said or written (or both). This post is related to my last post about Daft Punk, Tron & the legacy of Kraftwerk

Here's Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk sharing his thougths on longevity and ephemerality;

"A cello was there 400 years ago and will still be here in 400 years. But synthesizers that were invented 20 years ago will probably be gone in the next 20. Synths are a very low level of artificial intelligence. Whereas you have a Stradivarius that will live for a thousand years. In the past, we have worked with clashing genres like disco and heavy metal, and here we would do it with film scores... this idea of the ultimate retro-futurism."
-Thomas Bangalter, Daft Punk, Dazed & Confused Magazine dec. 2010

Good point. I sense this kind of "machine melancholy" behind his statement. I've seen it other places as well. Might be worth exploring further. Look out for related blog posts in the future :)
Anyways, Daft Punk makes extensive use of a 90 piece symphony orchestra on the Tron:Legacy soundtrack and so far I can say that they've expanded the Daft Punk formula to also include classical instruments and epic, emotive sci-fi film scores...the hairs on my back stood up on two occasions while listening. That's nice.
The final verdict will have to wait until the film arrives though. This is music for a film, y'know.

12/6/10

This blog post originally appeared on Faroese art blog listinblog.blogspot.com. Here's a translated version for all you English speaking multitudes out there!

Sci-fi flick Tron: Legacy is out this december and I'm excited and curious to see how it will work out. Not least because of the soundtrack by most excellent french electronica/house duo Daft Punk. The soundtrack is out today and the film premieres in mid-december.

Tron: Legacy is the follow-up to 1982 cult film Tron. Disney is behind both films. The fact that Daft Punk made the music for this, by the look of it, inventive and goofy-in-a-cool-way film is no less than brilliant since the dream of an unlimited future is contained within Daft Punk's music.

Many bands and artists work within the field of electronic music but few have managed to make far-fetched sci-fi sound like plausible reality. Historically, Kraftwerk is probably the best and most convincing example of such a band. They formed the basis to pretty much everything we know as electronic popular music.
Kraftwerk's appearance and music is characterized by a clear and strong concept; four iconic musicians, suits and ties, short cut hair etc. Also, the individual records are characterized by a well-defined theme that opens up a broad range of reflections.

Kraftwerk. The Man Machine LP. The first track is called "The Robots". "Robotnik" means "worker" in Russian. A play with ambiguous meaning and visual influence from constructivism and communism.

The four members of Kraftwerk in copied doll/machine/robot form.

To my ears Daft Punk is one of few bands that have managed to lift the legacy of Kraftwerk. When you're listening to Daft Punk the sci-fi dream of a crazy limitless future is alive again. Visually they're also working with some of the same elements as Kraftwerk; a clear, strong concept, that can't be mistaken.

Sure this is a duo but like Kraftwerk Thomas Bangalter and Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo have a characteristic look and can also be said to be icons of sorts. They've taken the whole machine and robot aesthetic a step further and always present themselves in robot helmets on press photos, in concerts as well as in other public appearances. Most people don't know what Daft Punk look like in reality. We only recognize them as robots. There are some older photos of them without helmets but we have to go way back to the days when Daft Punk had yet to truly manifest themselves as Daft Punk.

Daft Punk

The fact that the two of them are anonymous and have a robot image is also consistent with the anonymity that is quite widespread in the culture around electronic dance music, where DJs play other people's music for the audience on the dance floor. In most cases, the artist who made the music is absent from its performance. Instead a third person, a DJ, acts as intermediary between sender and receiver. It's a play with anonymity and similar elements can be perceived in the visual style of Daft Punk.

Homework (1997)

The duo has released three albums so far and personally I like them all. Homework (1997) laid out some impressive basics and is a modern classic in house and electronic dance music. Discovery (2001) gets its inspiration and samples from a range of older disco, funk and soul tracks. These sources are worked together into a colorful and catchy futureworld, whose finishing touches came when Daft Punk and Japanese Manga director Leiji Matsumo produced the animated musical film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, that accompanies the full Discovery album. Or maybe the album accompanies the film. Or both.

Discovery (2001)

2005 saw the release of the raw, minimalistic and edgy Human After All, an album that only took six weeks to produce. The record didn't get the same acclaim as the previous ones, but amidst the monotonous grittiness some golden moments occur, and the album can almost be understood as a series of philosophical questions; Where does the human end? Where does the machine begin? What is human? What is human in music? Thomas Bangalter once said that Human After All was an attempt to understand where human feelings reside in music.

Human After All (2005)

Tron and Tron: Legacy are a whole story of their own. The first Tron movie contained groundbreaking use of computer graphics and is a charming and visually impressive 80's sci-fi film. Jeff Bridges plays the lead role as the protagonist and computer game developer Kevin Flynn, and in Tron: Legacy Gareth Hedlund plays his son Sam Flynn. These are imaginative and colorful films for kids and those young at heart. Those who want to and know how to wonder.

Click the links above for more information. I'm looking forward to seeing the film and not least to hear how the soundtrack works in it. I've listened to it a couple of times already and the epic-ness of it made the hairs on my back stand up on two occasions. But the full disclosure won't come until the film is out.

11/24/10

Lou Reed: Street Hassle "Street Hassle" (1978)
First up we have American songsmith Lou Reed, who both as a member of The Velvet Underground and solo has written a bunch of good songs:

Spacemen 3: The Perfect Prescription "Ode to Street Hassle" (1987)

Up next are English psychedelia/shoegaze noisesmiths Spacemen 3 with their Ode to Street Hassle:

Mokira: Persona "Ode To The Ode To Street Hassle" (2009)
And finally we have Swedish ambient/glitch/something artist Mokira (better known as Andrias Tilliander) with a grainy Ode to the Ode to Street Hassle:Ode To The Ode To The Street Hassle by _type

Wouldn't say that these are covers of the same song. First there's a song, then there's another song that includes elements from the former but adds something new, and then one more which I believe is a sample of the 2nd version that has been worked into an entity of its own. The funny thing about the third version is that it plays almost like an echo or worn out copy of the former. Street Hassle, Ode to the and Ode to the Ode to the...

Yeah.

Some time ago I attended a lecture/workshop with this guy who made things sound interesting. Check it out for further reading (in Danish!)

11/9/10

The clip above contains the title track from Plastikman's 1998 album Consumed. An absolutely amazing piece of ambient minimal techno. Sublime stuff. "Consumed" indeed. The whole album is a pleasure. Please note that the clip is a vinyl rip, hence the vinyl crackle :)

Plastikman is Canadian Richie Hawtin who came onto the Detroit techno scene in the very early 90's and was part of the "second wave of Detroit techno". Since the mid 90's he's been a leading exponent of minimal techno along with Ricardo Villalobos and others.

Plastikman's music is abstract, fluidic, minimal and deeply atmospheric. It's also worth noting that most of the Plastikman ouvre was released in the 90's and was well ahead of its time. All his albums are worth checking out. For more info go here or here.

And as mentioned above; the better the headphones the more sense it makes. Definitely. My new pair of Sennheisers really come to good use with this music. If you find yourself listening to music through crappy speakers (of which crappy laptop speakers are the worst) or crappy headphones, please, for the love of music, do yourself a favor and buy decent equipment!

10/28/10

As the last part of the title implies this is the first in a series of mixes. It will be a short series. Two, maybe three mixes in total. The Psych'o'Drones mixes will be dedicated to psychedelia, drone, rock, noise, punk, alternative, kraut, blues & pure unfiltered rock 'n' roll.

10/24/10

Thursday night we were back at Loppen for another great show. This time it was Japanese three-piece Nisennenmondai. Saw them at this year's Roskilde and they blew us away with their mixture of repetitive kraut disco jams and explosive noise freakouts. Been listening quite a lot to their latest album Destination Tokyo these last couple of months and featured it in my 2009 album yearlist

Yuri Zaikawa; bass. Photo: Daniel Niebuhr

Nisennenmondai are three women from Japan; guitarist Masako Takada "Mai-Chan", bassist Yuri Zaikawa "Zai", and drummer Sayaka Himeno "Hime". The band name means "Y2K bug" in Japanese (a current term when the band was founded ten years ago). The fact that the band is made up of three Japanese women is obviously awesome in itself but know that this is not a novelty act. The girls know their skills, have an amazing interplay between them and present themselves as a very tight musical unit both on stage and on record.

Sayaka Himeno; drums. Photo: Solveig H. Olsen

The music of Nisennenmondai is hypnotically repetitive. My brain was split during their performance. One half was fighting against the possible enjoyment of the repetitive grooves while the other half was immersed in the trance.
There is a very strong concept around repetition, drone, minimalism and trance. Time has different meaning, or maybe no meaning at all. Life and death. The drone goes on forever, beyond death, you accept it and that's just the way things unfold. No story, no going from A to B to C, just being. Mere existence. Life and death. The concept is there and it includes a whole array expressions.

Masako Takada's guitar loops add both texture and backbone. Photo: Daniel Niebuhr
So the half of my brain that has been brought up with teleological urges was annoyed, while the other half was jubilant. The two were fighting but in the end I came out relieved. Relieved that I for a moment was freed from the tyranny of vocals, of lyrics, of the usual specifics, the constant striving towards a goal, the end to the story. Instead I was lost in a fire that burns away without end. Awash in the ebb and flow and it was glorious.

For this blog post I pulled the old "dot a photographer on the shoulder" trick and this time around it was Daniel Niebuhr who was the chosen one. I noticed him taking photos during the show. Turns out he was taking photos and reviewing for Danish music site Undertoner.dk and he also sent me some photos. Thanks Daniel! If you read Danish, do check out his review for details, song titles etc. My girlfriend Solveig also snapped a few, including the great drummer pic above.

Not much else to say other than that I'm really thankful this band exists and for the fact that I've had the chance to see them play twice. Thank you Nisennenmondai.

Do continue if you would like to hear/see what you've been reading.

Interview bits and clips from performances, press the "up" arrow, then press "CC" for English subtitles:

"Mirrorball", live clip. What energy!

"Ikkkyokume", live recording. A great noise track!

"Destination Tokyo". Title/final track from the album. Great, great stuff:

10/15/10

Really like what these guys are doing! Brandt Brauer Frick is a German three-piece. Their music is some sort of techno but interestingly they mostly use acoustic instruments and sound sources.
Daniel Brandt (left) and Jan Brauer (middle) are electronic musicians while Paul Frick (right) is classically trained. The music definitely contains some classical flourishes, from Steve Reich and American minimalism especially.

Brandt Brauer Frick's debut album is out in november on !K7 Records and I'm looking very much forward to it. So far I have some of their single releases as mp3's but this is music for the vinyl collection, no doubt about it. My girlfriend and me were supposed to see them at Vega in january but for different reasons we arrived late and missed the show. I talked briefly to Daniel Brandt and he mentioned something about Distortion Festival but they didn't play there. Hope to see them live sometime in the not too distant future.

Here's an awesome video for the track "Bop". I won't give away too much, just make sure you watch it. So many cool things at play;

I love how they both visually and sound-wise blend a classical "serious music" or "high art" aesthetic and a techno aesthetic. It works so well together and of course they're not without irony and humor.
Up next we have The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble! Here's where it gets really cool. The BBF Ensemble is the three of them augmented with additional live players and here they are rehearsing tracks for upcoming performances. Unbelievably cool!

If more classical concerts were like this I'd go to more classical concerts. The music also works in specific electronic/techno settings. Here's a live performance from Berlin's much hyped Berghain club. A certain Kraftwerk aesthetic at work if you ask me;

9/26/10

“Music, if Plato was right, might save us yet. Certainly no hippie, no folk singer, no long-haired guitar-playing rock musician is going to fry us all with napalm or blow us up with the bomb” -Ralph Gleason

9/13/10

Photo from noted krautrock producer Konrad "Conny" Plank's studio.
I DJ different sorts of danceable musics when I'm using the üBERNöRD moniker. This is the 3rd in a series of DJ mix blog posts where I will A) post a new mix and B) write a line or two about it.

This was an experiment of sorts. I wanted to musically constrain myself for this set which was played at Sirkus Föroyar in Torshavn, Faroe Islands on a Thursday night in August. I've been going through a krautrock craze for some time now and decided that this would be a "strictly krautrock" set, i.e. it would only feature German music from the late 60's to the early 80's (mostly from the 70's).
Not sure whether this one is a "Knút mix" (rock etc.) or an "üBERNöRD mix" (music you can dance to) but I'll stick to ÜBERNöRD for now. Parts of this mix are definitely danceable and for the other parts, well, just lay your head back and immerse yourself in the soundscapes.

"Krautrock". That's the term. Now, I don't pretend to know EVERY band from the era, but I do love the bands in this mix and the unique sounds they produce(d). I think there's a common vibe seeping through the selected tracks, even if the musical material spans a variety of genres; we're off to a sneaky and haunting start with Ash Ra Tempel's epic "Traummaschine" and our further journey includes psychedelic avantgarde jams from Amon Düül II and CAN, ambient synth & sequencer landscapes from Cluster and Tangerine Dream, hypnotic motorik beats from Kraftwerk, Harmonia and Neu! and for the finale we have the mighty Faust and their defining drone piece, simply titled "Krautrock". 10 bands, 20 tracks, nearly 3 hours of music. For more info on the bands check out the BBC krautrock documentary I blogged about earlier this year.

Not your average party starter mix, but if you're intrigued by what you're reading, go ahead and give it a listen. Preferably through headphones or a decent set of speakers. Laptop speakers won't do this music justice. Play it loud;Strictly Krautrock @ Sirkus Föroyar by üBERNöRD

8/18/10

Last year I began making album yearlists where I listed the best albums of years gone and worked my way backwards in time. This began in 2009 so the first year listed was 2008. Two lists have been listed so far; 2008 and 2007. It's been more than a year since I posted the last list, so now that we're in 2010 I'm going to make a list for 2009. So 2009 will be no. 3. This all makes perfect sense and no, there's no need for you to be confused. At all.

Here's some of what I wrote as an introduction to the first two lists:

"In a sudden attack of listmania I decided to pick my favourite albums, or at least the albums that caught my interest the most, and make a list for each year. I’m going to slowly work my way backwards in time. Each blog will contain a list of about 10 to 15 albums that range from “awe-inspiringly excellent” to “interesting”. The selection will of course be extremely subjective and open to much debate. Leave comments if you want. Am in no way saying that this is a definite list. Let's wait and see whether the albums represented here will stand the test of time. There might be changes made to the list in the future. If I come across a really great album that I haven't heard, that album might replace one of the listed albums. But this is it for now.
Please note that electronic music is likely to be underrepresented, since a lot of electronic artists release great singles while not doing much in the "cohesive album as a whole"-department. With a few notable exceptions. And those will be included."

Please note that changes have been made to both the 2008 and the 2007 list. Click 'em to see exactly what those changes are.

EDIT: There's some confusion here. For whatever reason I thought Destination Tokyo by Nisennenmondai came out earlier this year but apparently it came out last year. It has been included in the list.

So here goes "A year of interesting albums - pt. 3: 2009". In no particular order except a sort of chronological one:
Dälek: Gutter Tactics

The follow-up to Abandoned Language (2007). What a great album that was and what a great album this is. Experimental hip hop collage music with balls and integrity.

A Place To Bury Strangers: Exploding Head

Standing on the shoulders of shoegazers. More evil guitar noise from New York. The follow-up to the band's self-titled 2007 debut. Saw them live at Loppen in Copenhagen recently. Great show. Oliver Ackerman sure knows his guitar and pedals.

Antony and the Johnsons: The Crying Light

Sometimes I'm stunned by the simple beauty and clarity of this album. It slowly grows. That's Japanese Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno on the cover.

Black Meteoric Star: Black Meteoric Star

Analogue droning minimalist kraut jams with an old school house twist. Great stuff. Gavin Russom plays his home built collection of retro synths and drum machines. Hisses and crackles. Recorded live to tape. No computer editing here, no way José. From what I understand Russom also plays in the LCD Soundsystem live band. Black Meteoric Star is out on DFA Records.

Beak>: Beak>

Side project from Geoff Barrow (Portishead) and two other guys. Mostly instrumental and kinda kraut inspired. Cool grooves. Who needs song structures anyway?

Bob Dylan: Together Through Life/Christmas In The Heart

So Bob and his cohorts managed to add another great album to an already staggering canon and make a decent (as in 'the coziest in a long time') christmas album. All in one year. Way to go Bob.

The Flaming Lips: Embryonic

This just might be the best and ballsiest album of 2009. If I had to pick an album of the year this would be it.

The Field: Yesterday and Today

Cool stuff from Sweden. Cut up cells of sound that ebb and flow. 'Atmospherica'? With techno at its base, that's for sure.

Oliver Huntemann: H3

German techno producer. Minimal, dark & edgy. Very good.

GusGus: 24/7

A deep + technoid album from Icelands finest. No bullshit here.

Mokira: Persona

More good stuff from Sweden. Andreas Tilliander is behind this. Ambient and haunting. Ghosts, machines and ghosts in machines.

Nisennenmondai: Destination Tokyo

We ("we" = my girlfriend and me) saw this Japanese trio at Roskilde Festival and they blew us away! Our favourite show at a festival that had some great bands playing. Nisennenmondai are three girls that make intense, repetitive, minimalist rock with a dark krautrock disco bent. Live they went from motorik grooves to crazy noise freakouts and back to the groove in an instant. This is probably not for everyone but if you find yourself liking this kind of stuff you are in for a treat. I absolutely love this album. Four tracks that range from 8 to 13 minutes and a fifth that is a short funny interlude in the middle. Have to get this on vinyl.

John Tejada: Where

Techno that's to the point. Sharp. Craft is the word.

Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship

Tortoise is such a cool band. A musical mix that includes jazz sensibilities, American minimalism & German (kraut)rock from the 70's = good stuff. Saw them live in Copenhagen in december. Glad I did.

U2: No Line On The Horizon

Well, they write good songs, now as always. It's not hip to like U2 but who cares. I like my regular dose of anthemic and nobody does anthemic like U2.

The Whitest Boy Alive: Rules

Incredibly laid back funk pop. The album was recorded in sunny Mexico, obviously. "Islands" was one the best songs of 2009.

Wooden Shjips: Dos

Psy-che-delic like your Californian grandmother used to play it. Drums + bass lay down repetitive grooves while sleepy vocals, organ textures & incendiary guitar freakouts float above. Oh yes, oh yes indeed. They played a great show at this year's Roskilde.

Wolves In The Throne Room: Black Cascade

I remember walking by the stage where this band was playing at last year's Roskilde. It was the first day and we were in a hurry; on our way to see some other band I can't remember. So I only heard a few minutes of WITTR's performance but their sound stuck with me.
A friend on facebook mentioned them earlier this year and soon after I found Black Cascade at a local vinyl shop. Didn't buy it then (I was looking for a gift for my girlfriend and believe me; this was not it) but I decided to finally dig into this band. What a wise decision. Got their albums on mp3 and saw them live at Loppen in june. What a fucking great band. From what I understand the music is described as "ambient black metal". It is characterized by a very immersive and dense atmosphere. It's black metal but there's more to it. Something unspeakable at play. A void in there. The abyss. Stare into it long enough and it stares back at you (Nietzsche'an for 'kick ass!') And what an awesome band name. Speechless.